"MENTAL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Chris Vance as JACK GALLAGHER Jacqueline McKenzie as VERONICA HAYDEN-JONES Marisa Ramirez as CHLOE ARTIS Derek Webster as CARL BELLE Nicholas Gonzalez as ARTURO SUAREZ Annabella Sciorra as NORA SKOFF Edwin Hodge as MALCOLM DARIUS WASHINGTON Not Rated Studio: 20th Century Fox Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Wharton Memorial Hospital has gotten a new director of psychiatric services, and to some he is crazier than the patients he treats. Dr. Jack Gallagher uses unconventional treatments and a unique approach to help diagnose the patients in the psych ward, which results in some pretty major successes.
WHAT I LIKED
There are possibly as many doctor shows on the air as there are cops and lawyer shows. It takes a lot to make a series stand out with uniqueness. I will give the folks behind “Mental” credit in the fact that they have made a show that does come at the traditional hospital drama from a unique angle.
There aren’t too many psychiatric shows on television, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of psychiatrists. From “Monk” to “Private Practice,” it’s not uncommon to find a shrink in the cast. What makes “Mental” work to a degree is that all the characters have a psychiatric background, and their own dysfunctions are spread throughout the cast (unlike Violet from “Private Practice,” whose character is just simply overwhelming).
The acting is fine, and Chris Vance as Jack Gallagher effectively carries the show. Annabella Sciorra’s role of administrator Nora Skoff, who hired Jack, plays a good foil for him, and although she has gotten older she still is an attractive woman to have on television. (Although that does lead me to notice that Wharton Memorial Hospital has possibly the best looking group of doctors and nurses this side of “Grey’s Anatomy.”)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
When a DVD for a series is touted on the shrink wrap, “If you like ‘House,’ you’ll love ‘Mental,’” it is setting itself up for failure. There’s a spark to a show like “House” that is so hard to recreate. On one hand, the shows are similar – an unconventional doctor diagnosing and solving a disease-of-the-week – and I can’t ignore how similar the character of Nora Skoff is to Lisa Cuddy. However, “Mental” is a very different show at its core because it has much more optimism. That can lead some episodes to be as sappy as “House” is cynical.
The stories don’t have the spark that they need to really suck me in as a fan. That could be because of my cynical nature and the fact that I couldn’t last twenty minutes as a doctor in a psych ward before smacking around the patients and yelling at them to get it together. It could also be because I know that psychiatric treatment takes far longer than can ever be effectively conveyed in an hour-long television drama.
The characters still need to gel a bit on “Mental,” and from a technical side the hi-def shooting artifacts too much that it makes the series look a bit too amateurish for my tastes.
DVD FEATURES
On the four-disc DVD set, you have the unrated alternate pilot (which isn’t too different from the actual pilot found on disc one) and a behind-the-scenes featurette on Dr. Gallagher.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
People who want an alternative to the typical hospital drama.
